Gunfire erupts during Ferguson protest, officer returns fire

– Police officers came under heavy gunfire late Sunday during protests marking the one-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer, the St. Louis County Police Department reported.

For the first time in three nights of protests, some officers were dressed in riot gear, including bullet-proof vests and helmets with shields.

At least two unmarked police cars were shot at, officials said.

At least one victim was taken Barnes Jewish Hospital, KSDK-TV in St. Louis reports.

The Guardian’s analysis of people killed in encounters with police lists 56 unarmed black men among killed this year, which would include non-shooting deaths. “They shot my brother”.

Several hundred protesters who had gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown blocked traffic.

Kevin Norman, 34, of Kansas City, Mo., traveled to Ferguson to join in the protests. An officer said through a bullhorn they would be arrested if they did not move. “It’s sad that all this had to come to this”.

Chief Belmar of St. Louis County Police held a brief, pre-dawn press conference updating reporters with new details from a shootout between four plain-clothes officers and a man suspected of involvement in the earlier shooting.

“They were criminals, they weren’t protesters”, he said, adding that there was a “small group of people out there that are intent on making sure we don’t have peace that prevails”.

An analysis by the Washington Post showed that unarmed black men are seven times more likely to be shot dead in encounters with police.

Among those marching were a dozen people carrying a giant banner reading, “Black Lives Matter”.

The time represented the four and a half hours that Brown’s body lay face down in the street before being taken away.